Cristiano Ronaldo among three players missing Manchester United pre-season tour
By Andy Hampson, PA
Phil Jones and Brandon Williams will join Cristiano Ronaldo in missing Manchester United’s pre-season tour to Thailand and Australia.
All three players were missing from the official squad list for the trip published by the Premier League club on Friday ahead of their departure.
United had already confirmed that Ronaldo, who it emerged last weekend has asked to leave the club if an acceptable offer is received, would not be travelling.
🚨 #MUTOUR22 SQUAD 🚨
Erik has named a 3️⃣1️⃣-man squad to travel to Thailand and Australia this pre-season... 💪🔴#MUFC— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 8, 2022
The 37-year-old has been granted additional time off to deal with the family issue that prevented him from reporting back for training this week.
Experienced defender Jones, who has been hampered by fitness issues in recent seasons, is remaining in Manchester to follow a specialist programme.
Williams also has a minor issue and will continue to work at Carrington. Even without the 21-year-old, the 31-man squad still contains three left-backs in new signing Tyrell Malacia, Luke Shaw and Alex Telles.
The tour, which will feature games against Liverpool, Melbourne Victory, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, will be new manager Erik Ten Hag’s first chance to work in depth with the squad.
